Prisoners get higher feeding allowance than NYSC members, says Senate

By Sanni Onogu and Nicholas Kalu, Abuja

• Upper Chamber alleges ‘padded’ N4.5b police barracks project in NDLEA’s budget estimates

• Agency source: it’s typographical error

The Senate Committee on Sports and Youth Development has urged the Federal Government to increase the daily feeding allowance paid to members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

It said the Federal Government also needs to ensure greater investment in sports infrastructure.

The committee spoke yesterday in Abuja through its Chairman, Obinna Ogba.

The committee chairman noted that the arrangement where the government proposed to spend N1,000 to feed a prisoner and N600 on a corps member is not good enough and should be reviewed.

Ogba expressed worry that corps members, who devote their talents and skills in the service of the nation for one year, were being paid a meagre N600 as daily meal allowance while N1,000 was being proposed by the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) for the daily meal of every corps member.

Ogba, who also decried the decreasing yearly budgetary allocations to the Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, called for increased funding of the ministry in the 2022 budget.

The committee chairman noted that adequate fund was required to drive sports development, which would ultimately drive development of youths and the economy.

He said it was the responsibility of the government to provide an enabling environment through security and sports infrastructure, like modern stadia, to attract investors and drive investment in the sports industry.

“Money is required for the development of sports in the country,” Ogba said.

He added that the N5 billion earmarked in the 2022 budget of the ministry as capital expenditure was grossly inadequate for sports development and mobilisation of youths into sporting activities.

Smart Adeyemi supported Ogba’s position, saying there was an urgent need to increase the funding of the ministry.

The Kogi West senator said the committee has the ability to ensure improved allocation, adding that investment in sports industry would improve the economy as a big-time business in many countries.

He called for the provision of a “Special Fund” from the Appropriation Committee, saying sport would provide jobs for unemployed youths and discourage social vices.

Committee Chairman Barau Jibrin said there was need to have a “Master Plan” to drive sports development in the country.

He also said private sector investment was the trend in sports development across the world.

But Stella Oduah said the ministry’s budget did not appear to show the development of the youth.

Also, the Senate Committee on Appropriation yesterday rejected the report of the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics after reportedly discovering that N4.5 billion was earmarked for the construction of police barracks in the 2022 budget estimates of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

In a presentation, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotic, Hezekiah Dimka, said the committee found the anomaly while scrutinising the budget document presented to it by the Ministry of Finance.

The discovery compelled the Committee on Appropriation, chaired by Barau Jubrin, to turn down the report on the budget of the NDLEA and asked the committee to correct the N4.5 billion.

The alleged budget padding happened a day after the Senate Committee on Environment, chaired by Ike Ekweremadu, reportedly uncovered N16 billion proposed in the 2022 Appropriation Bill for the repayment of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).

Also, NDLEA spokesman Femi Babafemi could not be reached last night for his comment on the development.

But a source in the agency told The Nation that it was a typographical that changed “Police Barracks” to “NDLEA Barracks”.